Raccoons are cute animals and many people try to raise injured or abandoned babies.
If you come upon a baby raccoon that is alone or injured while walking in the forest, you may be tempted to pick him up and try to rescue him or possibly raise him as a pet. Raccoons are wild animals and it can be difficult to raise them from infancy and even more difficult to suppress its natural wild tendencies as an adolescent or adult animal. There are ways to raise raccoons from infancy that will ensure that they grow up healthy.
Instructions
Raising a Raccoon From Infancy
1. Contact a veterinarian. If you decide to help an injured or abandoned raccoon, you should first contact a veterinarian and have it checked out. The veterinarian will be able to give you an idea of its age, if it has been weaned, if it is carrying any diseases and take care of any injuries it may have. The doctor can also give it needed vaccinations if it is old enough for them.
2. Contact an animal rehabilitation organization. If the idea of raising a raccoon seems too dangerous or time consuming, you can contact an animal rehabilitation organization that will care for the animal until adulthood. They may even be able to find a surrogate mother that will take the baby in and treat it as one of her own babies. While people can raise raccoons, there is nothing better than a mother's love and care.
3. Keep them warm. Infant raccoons have very little hair and can easily freeze to death in seemingly comfortable temperatures. Keep a hot water bottle filled with warm water and lay the babies on top of it. Do not use heat lamps to heat the babies as the intense heat can actually be harmful to the delicate skin.
4. Keep them hydrated. Infant raccoons have not been weaned from mother's milk and need it to stay hydrated and gain weight. You can purchase kitten replacement milk from pet stores and veterinarians office and use it on the raccoons. Very small babies need to be fed warm milk through a dropper and older babies can be fed via a baby bottle.
5. Take precautions concerning disease. Infant raccoons are very susceptible to the diseases carried by fleas, ticks and other parasites. They can succumb to the effects of disease quickly. Humans should also be wary from disease from raccoons. The accidental ingestion of raccoon feces after handling the baby raccoons can transfer parasites and worms that cause disease including encephalitis.
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